Seahawks For The Win -- A comprehensive blog for the 12th Fan since 2010!

Monday, November 4, 2013

Halloween is over but Seattle still scares it's fans

Seahawks 27
Buccaneers 24
F/OT

Halloween might be over but the Seahawks had one last 'scare' in store for their fans.

Just before the first half's two-minute warning, the Seahawks found themselves down 21-0 against the winless Buccaneers. Two things had never happened before this game: Seattle hadn't lost a home game in it's last 11 contests and Seattle had never overcome a 21 point deficit in franchise history.

Yet, did anyone really ever think that the Seahawks were out of it?

Despite the fact that, for a second consecutive game, Seattle had let a rookie running back run for over 130 yards on them, victory never felt out of reach. By now, it seems like we've all come to grips with the fact that our offensive line is unable to pass block-- and this game only solidified what we already knew about that group. Nevertheless, that didn't rattle our confidence.

After all, we have Russell Wilson.

For the most part, our defense had a bad game. As well as they've played to this point-- they've earned the right to have a bad game! We can't keep dismissing the atrocious state of our offensive line week after week and not grant the same leniency to our defense for one game.

Marshawn Lynch stepped it up big, rushing for 125 yards and carrying the offense on his back when they needed it most. Jermaine Kearse, Doug Baldwin and Golden Tate filled in admirably with the loss of Sidney Rice and in the continued absence of Percy Harvin.

With the Seahawks now perched atop of the NFC with home field advantage theirs for the taking, it is clear that they will need to continue to get better down the stretch. The past 4 games have been against inferior teams where Seattle should have put up high-scoring statement games. Instead, the team delivered Houdini-esqe escapes to victory.

I totally understand that being 8-1, panicking seems not only unnecessary, but even dangerous at this point. On the other hand, seeing how thin our offensive line is and given how poorly they've performed through the first half of the season, I think it'd be willfully ignorant to assume that things are only going to get better. Believe it or not, things could actually get worse.

I understand that it's extremely difficult to find competent linemen at this point in the season but you'd think there would've been some attempt to acquire some additional security at the trade deadline. I obviously don't have the answer, but I'm curious what Carroll and Schneider would do if, say, Paul McQuistan were suddenly lost for the year?